• In all types of plant propagation activities, maintenance of

sanitation reduces the frequency and severity of arising

problems like ill drainage, pest and diseases.

• Drainage help remove of excess water from the growing media

and facilitate sufficient aeration to growing plant root system.

• Pruning helps remove of excessive live or dead, diseased or

pest infested branches from nursery plants.

Introduction

Sanitation is process of formulation and application of measures

designed to protect plant health.

Sanitation Treatments:

•Sterilization of propagation media, tools and implements used for

nursery plant production. Chemicals used for sterilizations are

Chloropicrin, Formaldehyde, Methyl bromide.

•Fumigation with chemicals is most useful for destroying harmful

bacteria, fungi, insects and nematodes.

•Drenching medium with certain fungicides is useful for eliminating

pathogens from the soil and other growth medium

Sanitation in Plant Nursery

Drainage is removing excess water from growing media to facilitate

aeration to growing plant roots.

Advantages of Drainage

•Water logging in pot or seed bed can be avoided and plant roots

get proper aeration.

•After heavy rains, soil comes in tilth earlier and timely agricultural

operations can be carried out.

•Soil micro-flora and fauna which enrich organic matter, flourishes

due to aeration and warmth in the soil.

Drainage

• Desirable chemical reactions take place in growing media

and nutrient become available to the plants.

• Proper root development in plant which accelerates nutrient

absorption.

• Seeds germinate faster with healthy crop stand which resist

pest and diseases attack.

• Weed growth can be checked by timely weeding and inter

culture operations.

• Good drainage permits the removal of many toxic chemicals

and salts thereby reducing damage to the crops.

Advantages of Drainage

Pruning is removal of dead, pest and disease infested branches

from nursery plants.

Objectives of Pruning Nursery Plants:

•Nursery plants are pruned to promote and maintain healthy plant

growth, through the removal of dead and excess branches.

•Pruning of nursery plants can improve marketable quality of

nursery stock, due to uniform shape, clean and even growth.

•Plant can be made more compact for exhibition display and

transport.

Pruning of Nursery Plants

Heading Back Pruning:

•Apical shoots are pruned to facilitate balanced growth of

growing plant / tree.

•Dead, diseased and pest infested branches are pruned.

•Heading Back increases the density of branches and makes

the plant more sturdy. 

Thinning Out Pruning

•Complete branch is pruned to maintain limited number of

branches. It is heavy type of pruning. Thinning will make a plant

grow taller and more open.

Types of Pruning